New Website Is Live!

Our new website is live! We made this website so that our customers would have the ability to see what services we offer. Customers will also have the ability to pay for services using Visa, Master Card, Discover & American Express. Click Here To View Our Services

Customer Feedback

I just want to say thank you to Kobi at Blackmagic computers. My computer has numerous error messages what would show up on my screen when starting my computer up. I also had a virus on my computer that my antivirus software would not get rid of The Kobi offered to help me with my problem by remoting into my computer.

He was able to fix the issue without me having to unhook my computer and bring it to them. I live in williamsburg so it saved me a trip to Traverse City. My computer is running great! I would recommend this company to anyone that needs computer help.

Thank You
Jason Ray

Hello my name is Mike, I had dell laptop that the LCD screen would not display anything. I spoke to one of my friends that said he had his computer worked on by a company named Blackmagic Computers. He said that I should go to their website and look at there service's. I contacted the company and spoke to a technician and told him about my LCD screen. He was very helpful and told me that I could ship the laptop to him and they would diagnose the issue and call me with an estimate.

I shipped my laptop and with a few days I received a call from them stating that my LCD Screen was defective. They not only gave me an estimate over the phone but also emailed me exactly how much it would be to repair it. I was surprised to find out that they would at a flat rate and not hourly.

I wanted to do some calling to other companies to see if I could get it repaired cheaper. I was surprised to find out that Blackmagic Computers price was about $100 cheapter then any the 3 other places I contacted.I approved the charges and they shipped the laptop to me 2 days later! I want to say that its running great! I want to say thank you for your great customer services. I definitely will be going back for any future computer issues I have.

Sincerely,
Michael Peacock

Hi my name is Julie, I justed wanted to thank the technician at blackmagic computers for fixing my computer. I am a college student at Michigan University. I was working on my paper for one of my classes that was due in a week when my computer screen turned blue. I restarted my computer but it wouldnt load up to windows xp. I was very upset and thought that I had just lost my homework.

I went online to try and find someone that could help me. I saw a website blackmagic computers that caught my eye. After looking at their services I saw that they do data recovery. Not knowing what was wrong with my computer I emailed the company and I was surprised to get an email back with in 5 minutes. After explaining the options I decided to ship my computer to them because of me living in Grand Rapids I didnt want to make the trip to Traverse City.

I shipped the laptop and with in 3 days I received a call from them stating that my hard drive was failing. They said that they would be able to get the information off the hard drive. They not only got the paper I was working on but all my pictures and music! I was so happy with the service I told them to go ahead and replace the hard drive in the computer. 2 days later I had my computer shipped back to me!

I had my college paper, music and pictures all on DVD's. I started my computer up and was very happy to see that it was working again. I can't thank blackmagic computers enough for fixing my computer and retrieving my college paper.

Sincerely,
Julie O'neil

Blackmagic Computers

Click here for computer repair service

Does your computer run slow? Is it infected with Spyware & or Viruses? Do you need a new computer built for gaming, Home use or for Business? Do you need a Wired or Wireless Network set up at your Home or Business? At Blackmagic Computers we do all this and more! Cheap rates and we also will come to your home.

If you happen to live outside of the the Grand Traverse, Wexford, Leelanau, Kalkaska, Crawford or Otsego County area we also offer REMOTE ASSISTANCE! With remote assistance you don’t have to leave the comfort of your own home or business. We can connect to your computer remotely, diagnose and in most cases fix many software related issues such as Viruses & Spyware Infection. In rare instances it might be necessary for us to have the computer in front of us to better diagnose and repair the issue at hand.

If you would have one of the following instant messaging services and wish to talk to a technician feel free to add us into your instant messaging client, a service technician can explain the services and all the things we have to offer you at Blackmagic Computers. Or if you would like to call or email us click on the contact icon at the top of the page.

AIM: Blkmagiccomputer
MSN: Blackmagiccomputers@live.com
Yahoo: Blackmagiccomputers
Google Talk: Blackmagiccomputers@gmail.com

Our Computer Repair Website Coming Soon!

It's official! Blackmagic Computers will have it's own website! On our site the customer will be able to place orders for parts, services and more.

The main objective is to have the site up for not only the local customers but customers from all over the united states.

Customer's will have the ability to send us their computer and have it fixed and shipped back to them. We will be doing everything from Spyware and Virus Removal, Data Backups, Fixing Hardware Issues such as failing hard drives, Cracked or defective Laptop LCD Screens etc.

Method of payment will be Pay Pal & Google Checkout. Will have more information on the website in a week or two.

.dll Error Messages!

Customer contacted me yesterday and stated that when booting up her computer she would get .dll error messages on her screen. She said that started when she tried to uninstall MusicMatch Junkbox off her computer. Also the computer was running extreamly slow.

.dll error messages can be tricky to get rid of. Often times it is because a file from a program is either missing or corrupted. We were able to take care of the error messages and clean up the computer.

After running some software scans we noticed that this computer was pretty heavily infected with viruses and spyware. 33 viruses & over 305 pieces of spyware. It was no wonder the computer was running slow.

Because of the amount of viruses on the computer I was curious to see what kind of antivirus software the customer was using. It was Mcafee and it was running and up to date. This edition of Mcafee came with the customers AT&T service. I explained to the customer that it might be in her best interest to try another antivirus software. I recommended several antiviruses that would do a good job on her computer.

The great thing was we only had the computer for 1 day! Again getting the computer in and back to the customer quickly! That's what we try and do every time! We understand that computers are important to many people so we try our best to have it here as little time as possible and back in the customers hands!

Anavon Communications Server Backup

I received a call the other day from Anavon Communications asking if I would be willing to help them in setting up a backup system for their network. I arrived at the office and and spoke with the President of the company.

He showed me around the company, showed me their IBM Server and the other employees computers. I noticed right away that the server had no antivirus software on it. I was told that they use the server to run there quickbooks which has thousands of customer contacts and accounts on there. They also use the server to log in and out of work.

Looking at the employees computers many of them were running free versions of some type of antivirus software. 2 of the 6 computers I looked at appeared to be running slow and possibly had some virues or spyware on them.

After running some tests it was confirmed that the 2 computers were in fact infected with viruses and spyware. I did a virus and spyware removal. Afterwards I installed some antvirus & spyware Protection on the computers and set up a backup system that would help them recover their data in the event of a crash or hardware failure.

One of the things they asked me to do was to take there 80gb SATA Hard Drive in their server that only had 15gb's left of free space and put in a 500gb SATA Hard Drive. I cloned the hard drive so they didnt have to reinstall Windows Server 2003. This saved them a lot of time and headache of not having to reinstall the software and possibly be without there server for a few days.

All in all it was a great experience working with Anavon and I hope that we do more business with them soon.

Dirty Job But Someone Has To Do It.

Worked on a customers computer the other day. Customer wanted a wireless card put in her Dell Desktop. When I opened the case I knew that this computer had not been cleaned probably

since that purchased it. Take a look at the pictures below.

Compaq Laptop With Broken LCD Screen.

Here is a laptop with a broken screen that we are repairing. Notice the extent of the cracked screen. Most places would charge you anywhere between $350-$700 to repair a Laptop LCD Screen. But here at Blackmagic Computers we do it for cheap! Not to worry when we are done with this it will be up and running great!

July 21, 2009

Here is the finished laptop. The LCD Screen was replaced and as you can see from the pictures the screen looks to be working great! I Received the laptop on July 16, 2009. The LCD Screen was ordered on the same day. It arrived on July, 20, 2009. Total time 5 days! 1 day to repair the laptop!

Project Natal (Microsoft)

Yeah! Wow this was showed off at E3 this year and man it looks awesome! Microsoft is saying that they are still working out some of the kinks in the system but said that you will be able to play all the current games with the Natal. Microsoft said that Natal will not be out this year but most likely you will be seeing it in stores in 2010. Here is a video on how Natal works.

Solar Powered Wireless Access Point!

Love wireless networking! Expecially the long distance stuff! Check out the video of this solar powered access point!

Infamous PS3

Here is some video on the game Infamous that is a PS3 Exclusive. This game looks really good and I cant wait to get it. It's release date is 5-26-09.

Un-winding With Some Tennis

Love the tennis!

BIOSHOCK 2 GAMEPLAY TRAILER!!!!

BioShock 2 is in the works! The 1st one was a great game. Excited to see how the 2nd one turns out. Here is a video that shows off some game play.

Solar Panels Power Home Theater

Four roof-mounted solar panels power 100-inch screen, 5.1 surround sound "guiltless" home theater.

April 17, 2009 by Steven Castle
Can a home theater really be green? The Home Theater Specialists of America (HTSA) says it can—and has built what it claims is the first “off-the-grid home theater” powered by solar panels.
The “Guiltless Green Home Theater,” which has a 100-inch screen and 5.1 channels of surround sound, uses energy collected from four roof-mounted solar panels. The 175-watt Sharp solar panels collect up to 700 watts per hour during the day, which the HTSA says provides about 22,000 watts per week, enough for 19 hours of off-the-grid home entertainment per week. (The figures are based on an average of 4.5 hours of sunlight per day in the Northeast and the theater’s 1,150-watt-per-hour draw, at full capacity. The house has other electrical draws as well, so we’ll consider the figures theoretical.)
The solar PV system is also tied to the grid, so when it’s making more power than the house is using, it sends power back to the community’s electrical system and turns the meter back at the house.”
“It’s time we address the energy use of the systems we install, because their environmental impact and expense are not trivial,” says Richard Glikes, Executive Director of HTSA. “When people see this project, they’ll learn that a solar home theater isn’t something out of science fiction. It’s a practical solution we can install today, and one that ultimately pays for itself.”
According to Glikes, the theater cost about $29,575 with modest modifications to a room, and the solar system $5,800 to install. Though the solar system will earn a 30 percent federal tax credit and another 35 percent state tax credit, bringing its cost down to a little over $2,000. It will also earn credits from the local utility for producing power, and Glikes said the system will pay for itself in three years.
The theater is installed in a model home at the White Horse development of builder Nolen Companies in Pennsylvania, and the solar system was installed by LG Energy Solutions.
HTSA member HiFi House did the electronics installation, which includes a Sharp XV-Z15000 1080p DLP front projector, 100-inch Stewart Filmscreen, five Speakercraft in-wall and in-ceiling speakers and a subwoofer, Integra A/V receiver, Sharp Blu-ray player, Monster power conditioner, lighting by Lutron, control by Universal Remote Control, wiring by Monster Cable and Salamander furniture.
Other green features are provided by the Monster power conditioner that can cut power completely to some components, which eliminates vampire or standby power loads, and the Salamander theater recliners that use no harmful chromium in the leather tanning process.
We’ll no doubt see other home theaters powered by the sun and wind and other renewable energies. And maybe we’ll see some powered directly by alternative energies, much like many solar thermal systems heat hot tubs and pools.
Click here to view additional photos.
Check out a time lapse video of the theater construction:

Hollywood scores win over Pirate Bay, 4 convicted

(AP) A crowd of journalists press to get a copy of the Pirate Bay trial verdict Friday April 17, 2009 at...Full Image
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STOCKHOLM (AP) - The entertainment industry won round one Friday in a legal battle against file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, with guilty verdicts and one-year prison sentences handed down to four men accused of running and financing the popular site.
The defendants vowed to appeal, setting the stage for a lengthy copyright dispute between music and movie corporations and an online swap shop they say has deprived them of billions of dollars in lost revenue.
In its landmark ruling, the Stockholm district court convicted Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundstrom of helping millions of users illegally download music, movies and computer games.
All four received one-year terms and were ordered to pay damages of 30 million kronor ($3.6 million) to entertainment companies, including Warner Bros, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI and Columbia Pictures.
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"We can't pay and we won't pay," Sunde said in a defiant video clip posted on the Internet. Mockingly, he held up a hand-scribbled "I owe U" note to the camera. "This is as close as you will get to having money from us," Sunde said.
With an estimated 22 million users, The Pirate Bay has become the entertainment industry's enemy No. 1 after successful court actions against file-swapping sites such as Grokster and Kazaa.
Lundstrom helped finance the site while the three other defendants administered it.
Defense lawyers had argued the quartet should be acquitted because The Pirate Bay doesn't host any copyright-protected material. Instead, it provides a forum for its users to download content through so-called torrent files. The technology allows users to transfer parts of a large file from several different users, increasing download speeds.
The court found the defendants guilty of helping users commit copyright violations by providing a Web site with "sophisticated search functions, simple download and storage capabilities, and through the tracker linked to the Web site."

(AP) A crowd of journalists press to get a copy of the Pirate Bay trial verdict Friday April 17, 2009 at...Full ImageThe case focused on dozens of works that the prosecutor said were downloaded illegally. They included songs by the Beatles, Robbie Williams and Coldplay, movies such as "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and computer games including "World of Warcraft - Invasion."
Judge Tomas Norstrom told reporters that the site was "commercially driven," which the defendants have denied.
John Kennedy, the head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, called the verdict good news for anyone "who is making a living or a business from creative activity and who needs to know their rights will be protected by law."
The Pirate Bay had assured users the trial wouldn't affect the site, and it remained operational after the verdict. Authorities temporarily shut it down in May 2006 after seizing servers and computer equipment during raids in several locations in Sweden. But it soon reappeared, running on servers elsewhere.
Andre Rickardsson, a computer expert and former investigator for the Swedish security police, said the ruling could encourage the entertainment industry to threaten Internet operators with lawsuits unless they block access to the site.

(AP) One of the servers of Swedish file sharing Web site Pirate Bay is seen exhibited at the Technical...Full ImageFile-sharing wouldn't go away, he added, but users would likely turn to more advanced technological tools to hide their activities.
"It's not as if people will turn around and say 'oops, I'll have to stop file-sharing now.' Instead the reaction will be 'oops, what can I do to protect myself from getting caught'."
Sunde's lawyer Peter Althin said he was confident that higher courts would dismiss the case against The Pirate Bay, which he described as a battle between the corporate world and "a generation of young people who want to take part of new technology."
The verdict comes as Europe debates stricter rules to crack down on those who share content illegally on the Internet.
Last week French legislators rejected a plan to cut off the Internet connections of people who illegally download music and films, but the government plans to resurrect the bill for another vote this month.

(AP) Pirate Bay founders Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, left, and Peter Sunde arrive to the Stockholm...Full ImageOpponents said the legislation would represent a Big Brother intrusion on civil liberties, while the European Parliament last month adopted a nonbinding resolution that defines Internet access as an untouchable "fundamental freedom."
Earlier this month, Sweden introduced a new law that makes it easier to prosecute file-sharers because it requires Internet Service Providers to disclose the Internet Protocol-addresses of suspected violators to copyright owners.
The country of 9 million has one of Europe's highest rates of Internet penetration, but has also gained a reputation as a hub for file-sharers.
Statistics from the Netnod Internet Exchange, an organization measuring Internet traffic in Sweden, suggested that daily online activity dropped more than 40 percent after the law took effect on April 1.
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WIRELESS UPGRADE

Blackmagic Computers received a call from a customer that said he wanted to make his house wireless. The customer stated that he lives in Traverse City and owns a large chunk of property that extends out into his back yard. In his back yard he wanted to be able to have wireless signal about a quarter mile out from the back of his house.

We arrived at his house and spoke to the customer we noticed that in deed he did have a large backyard. We knew that we were going to have to hook up a omni antenna to be able to extend the wireless signal.

The customer said that he would like the signal to be secured so that his neighbors

cant connect to it. We installed a 12dbi omni antenna on a pole 26 feet in the air. Installed a weatherproof box with a router and 1 watt amplifier. We also installed a light on the pole with a control box that would turn his light on when it was dark. We ran the lines into his house where they plugged into his Charter Communications Cable Box and 24 port switch.

We hooked up the 5 computers in the house 4 desktops, 1 being connected with a wireless card. 1 Laptop that was also set up wireless. While in the house we noticed that the customer had a Xbox 360 & Sony PS3 Gaming Console in his basement connected to a 24inch computer monitor.

He has stated that he had a Pioneer 54inch HDTV upstairs in his living room. I asked why he didnt have the 2 gaming consoles connected to his HDTV? He said that he didnt want to run wire from the basement where his cable modem box was to the upstairs living room. I advised him that we could connect the Xbox 360 and PS3 wireless so that he wouldnt have to run any network cables. He said that would be great and loved the idea of being able to play his games on a 54inch HDTV. So we connected the Xbox 360 & PS3 wirelessly.

I asked the customer if he had a media center computer to play media to his HDTV? He said no but he would love to have something like that set up. We made one of his computers a media server so that he could watch video's wirelessly to the HDTV in his living room. Not only that he also was able to play music through the media center to his home theater system he had connected to his HDTV.

After getting the networking set up and connecting his computers and gaming consoles wirelessly we went out to his backyard and tested the wireless connection. We were able to take his laptop approximately 1/4 mile out to the woodline in his back yard and not lose connectivity with the wireless router. We were able to access his network shared files on his media center and play a movie on the laptop from 1/4 mile away.

After finishing everthing up the customer stated that he would like us to come out on a later date and look at his daughters computer which he believes has viruses & or spyware on it.

How Dust Can Damage Your Computer Hardware.

I recently went to a customer's home to fix a computer and when opening the case noticed that the computer was filled with dust and dirt. It was apparent that the computer had not been cleaned in a long time. When starting up the computer it would boot to a black screen. If you restarted it enough times it would eventually boot to the desktop.

On of the major causes of hardware failure is from having dust and dirt inside your computer case. Dust and dirt can actually cause components inside the computer to overheat which can lead to hardware failure.

It is very important to clean out your computer case at least 3 or 4 times a year. If you computer tower is on the floor or in an area that regularly collects dust you may want to clean it out more frequently.

Modded Xbox 360, PS3 & Wii Laptops!!!!

Wow whoever mad these things has way too much time on their hands! But man I would love to have these things. Check out the Modded Xbox 360 & PS3 Laptops!!!!

Screen Savers Defcon Wi-Fi Shootout

Man I miss The Screen Savers. It was a great show. Here is one my favorite episodes. I love wireless and this one is about a Competition to see how far these guys can go with wireless. Check out the link.

Diablo III

Diablo III looks like its in the making! Well there goes my sleep. When Diablo II came out I played that game day and night! Here is a link to the site & video of some game play!
http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/index.xml

Xbox 360 Blaster

I finally got my Xbox 360 Blaster in! When I got the part I had to take apart my Xbox 360 hopefully for the last time. What this part does is it allows you to flash the DVD Drive without having to take apart the Xbox. Basically it has a SATA Port on the front of it. You just have to plug a SATA Cable from your computer into the front of the Blaster 360!



When I received the 360 Blaster I looked online to see if there was a new firmware out for the Xbox DVD Drive. A new firmware had come out the day before so this was a good opportunity to see if I could install the 360 Blaster & then flash the DVD Drive to see how it worked.



It was a bit of a pain to figure out how to plug all the wires in and run the wires through the Xbox. I was glad to see that they designed it so that you don't have to cut or modify anything on the Xbox when installing the Blaster 360.



After connecting all the wires I tested the Xbox 360 to make sure that it still was operating correctly. Everything looked good booted up fine. There are 2 switches on the 360 Blaster. One to switch it from PC to Xbox 360 Mode. The other switch was to turn the Mode B on/off & there was a Xbox 360 Mode. I switched it to PC Mode & Mode B I saw that the Xbox 360 power button was flashing rapidly. This told me that it was in Mode B which is the state you want the Xbox 360 to be in when you are flashing the DVD Drive.



So everyone thing looked good. I put the Xbox 360 back together, got the newest firmware for the DVD Drive. I put the Xbox 360 in Mode B & was able to flash the DVD Drive successfully in about 60 seconds!!!! Obviously much faster then having to take the Xbox 360 apart every time when you need to flash it.



Here is a little video showing the completed Xbox 360. It shows the Modded Case as well as the 360 Blaster!

Xbox 360 Case Mod & (Game Trailers Video)

This is a video of my Xbox 360 Case Mod I did a last week. The X in the side panel changes colors. You also have the abilitly to make it stay solid colors. In entire case is different. It has more of a black glossy finish to it then the original Case.

Xbox 360 Pro Mod (Tutorial)

I decided to put together a tutorial on how to mod the Xbox 360 with the BenQ DVD Drive. Check out the video I put together.

FINALLY MODDED THE XBOX 360!!!!

Well 3 weeks later! I finally modded the Xbox 360. Doing some more research I found that the new Xbox's that were coming out had BenQ DVD Drives in them. These drives are suppose to be quiter then the previous DVD Drives and have faster load times.

From what I was reading there were some people that figured out how to flash the firmware. So I went and bought another Xbox 360 Elite. When I opened it up I noticed that it did have the new BenQ DVD Drive. When I went back and read though the information I had gathered it appeared that I was doing everything right. But then I noticed I was missing one step. After correcting this I got it to flash the DVD Drive!

So now I have 2 Xbox 360 Elites. One is stock with a Hitachi DVD Drive (The one that was giving me troubles) and the second is the new one with the BenQ DVD Drive.
The new Xbox (Modded) is now able to play burned DVD Games! Well enough said check out the video and see for yourself.

DAMN IT FEELS GOOD TO BE A GANGSTA!!!!

Geek Squad Getting Ready For Black Friday:

Well the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) is almost here. My Manager took me back to the warehouse today and said that we got our computers in for Black Friday. When I went in the warehouse I saw computers piled on the floor. My manager said there was probably over 100 computers. All of the computers are going to be customized & have the restore discs made for the customers.

It was a long day today at work I took a few pictures of the Precinct.